


A Caelo

by 56leon



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Scratch, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Eh. It works., F/F, F/M, Haha what is a Doctor Who tag doing in a Homestuck fic, Humanstuck, I'm having so much fun with these tags, John-centric, M/M, Multi, POV First Person, Post-Scratch, Superheroes, That last one probably wasn't meant for Homestuck, Time Shenanigans, Timey-Wimey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-04-09
Updated: 2012-11-17
Packaged: 2017-11-03 09:04:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/379654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/56leon/pseuds/56leon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Egbert is on the verge of turning seventeen when, suddenly, he is bombarded with memories from the past - a past that he had never experienced. Using his newfound identity as the Heir of Breath, he, along with fifteen others, fight monsters, hide from the government, and try to find out how to stop the impending Apocalypse.<br/>But, as John will soon realize, it takes more than just some magical powers and a video game to stop the end of the world, and the sacrifices may just be higher than the stakes - including their own lives.</p>
<p>*If you've read this before, PLEASE read the note before the prologue!*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. I'm an idiot, let's make that clear first. I was working on chapter three earlier, and I accidentally uploaded it even though it wasn't done yet. Hey, that's okay, right? I can just delete the chapter! Welp, that's not how it worked out. Instead, I ended up deleting the whole story, all two-and-a-half chapters so far. All of it. I'm really sorry to anybody who has read this before, but, unfortunately, I don't have back-ups, so I'm going to have to type it up again from scratch...heh, I pun. But if somebody managed to download a copy and can somehow contact me or something, I will owe you, like, my first-born child. I swear.  
> I'm sorry again for the inconvenience and hope you will still continue reading A Caelo!

The sky was dark, but it went unnoticed as Jack Noir held me by the collar. "Any last words, God?" He sneered, the victory in his voice almost unbearable. He gripped me tighter, but the pain was overridden by the giddy hope coursing through my veins. I looked over Jack's shoulder, and he followed my line of sight until his eyes landed on Rose. The Seer of Light - my Seer of Light had a grimdark hand raised to the sky, uttering nonsensical words to the wind. The other fourteen, troll and human alike, stared at the sky with mixed emotions - awe, fear, hope, dread. I could understand their torment; even through what we had been through, I didn't want to forget one second of this, and what we were about to go through would forever be forgotten in mere seconds.

Jack Noir immediately dropped me, and I copied Rose's triumphant grin as her hand closed into a tight fist, signalling the end. "Prepare to be scratched, bitch."

 

 


	2. Ab Initio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title Meaning: From the Beginning
> 
> In which an exposition occurs, and the story is set up much more lighthearted than it will later on become.
> 
> Facebook and Tumblr jokes are amazing. End of story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday to you!  
> Happy Birthday to you!  
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR JO-OHN!!  
> Happy Birthday to you!

My name is - was - will be John Egbert, and I am - was - will be seventeen. It all depends on relative time and space, of which I have none. But for the sake of simplicity, let us pretend that you are in the future, after I die - for the last time, that is. After my friends and I beat Sburb and kill Jack Noir and fade into (hopefully) legend.  
(I say hopefully because, judging by the unmoving clock on the wall and bloody, equally unmoving Prospitians at my feet, we have a long way to go before that happens.)  
But if you are sitting somewhere on Alternia with your lusus, or if you're staring suspiciously at a young, buck-toothed boy named John across the street as he plays his chalk-drawn piano (red and blue, always red and blue) on the steaming sidewalk, pretend that what I am about to tell you about is far in the past, and that you will never have to see any of this in real life, and that the rest of your living days will be lived in relative peace.  
But I've digressed.  
Let me start from the beginning. My name was, for the sake of simplicity, John Egbert.  
Yes, that sounds good. Now what comes next?  
Ah, yes. An exposition. I am one of the invisible wind, not the gears of time; I need a set point in time to start my story, a somewhere, if you will. How about...yes. Now to put it all together.  
My name was John Egbert, and this was how I started the end of the world.  
\-----  
It started the day before my seventeenth birthday, April 12, at 10:25 to be exact, when Jade ran up to me in the middle of third period. I was sitting on the bleachers in the little gym, or the "lego gym" as we called it, watching the intense game of dodgeball, or more specifically, the battle between the "Scourge Sisters", the blind Terezi Pyrope and my psychopath ex-girlfriend Vriska Serket. My eyes were torn from the dodgeball war when a flyer was shoved in my face. "Look at it!" my sister Jade Harley squealed, "Take a good, long look at it!"

It was the cast list for the Scratch High Interactive Theatre's production of _Romeo & Juliet_, and who else could have gotten the part of Juliet? I scanned the rest of the list, saving the actor of Romeo for last. Mercutio was Gamzee Makara, the Nurse was Kanaya Maryam, so on so forth. The usual, as always. Finally, I looked up at who would be playing the main male role and grinned widely. "Tavvy and Jade-"

"Shut it!" Jade shouted, which forced Terezi to cover her hyper sensitive ears, allowing Vriska an easy shot straight into TZ's face. "Sorry, Tezz!" Jade called over before returning her gaze to me. "I mean it, John," she whispered fiercely, "If you say anything to anyone, I will never speak to you again! In fact, I'll even post those pictures of you singing karaoke naked on Facebook - no, on Tumblr!" My face immediately turned several violent shades of Dave red (yes, Dave Strider has his own shade of red now), and my sister walked off with a satisfied smirk. She was never one for empty threats; when she says she would do it, she would. But what confused me was why she was threatening me and not Gamzee Makara, the mutual best friend of both Jade and Tavros Nitram, who Jade had had a major crush on since middle school.

In retrospect, I was extremely glad that my relationship status wasn't "it's complicated". Jade was in love with Tavros, who we were pretty sure still had the hots for his (and pretty much everybody else's) ex-girlfriend, who happened to be Vriska, the same person who almost "accidentally" pushed him in front of a moving bus once. And then there was Gamzee, who only I knew had a long-standing "thing" for Jade, but everybody else thought liked either Tavros or Karkat Vantas. Dave Strider, my best friend's love life was even worse. He had a severe boner for Nepeta, who loved (as in, wanted to marry) her adoptive brother Karkat and was also rumored to like her best friend Equius Zahhak, who was either gay for Gamzee or straight for Aradia Megido, Sollux Captor's ex-girlfriend. Nobody could quite figure him out. Plus, Dave had been nearly raped by Feferi Peixes's drunk ex-boyfriend, Eridan Ampora (but then again, who hasn't?) and was hit on nearly every day by Terezi. Rose Lalonde, Dave's biological sister who was adopted into a different family, had a milder problem. She was openly bisexual, except the person she liked was her best friend Kanaya Maryam, who thought that Rose actually liked Aradia.

And nobody fit the term "speak of the devil" better than Rose herself as she strided into the gym minutes before the bell rang to send us to fourth period. After speaking briefly to Coach Ranson, she walked over to me and smiled graciously. "John," she said politely, as if tehre were any other way to describe her way of talking, "Madame Ruseau would be elated if you assist in making props and scenery for _Romeo & Juliet_. You will still be earning your gym credit for this semester, but if you would prefer-"

"I'm in!" I said quickly, and Rose gave a small smile at my eagerness.

"Very well, then," she said, "I shall inform Madame Ruseau tonight during rehearsal." Rose wasn't an actress, but she was the director and choreographer for this production, so of course she had to attend rehearsals. "I bid you farewell, Mister Egbert."

I giggled - yes, giggled, get over it. "And the same to you, Miss Lalonde." The bell rang, and Rose walked briskly toward the women's locker room for her fourth period gym class while I dashed out the door to reach my English class on the other side of the school.

\-----

I knew a ton of people in English - Jade, Dave, Aradia, Feferi, Sollux. The classroom itself was set up like a college room, as was most other rooms in Scratch High. I sat in between Jade and Dave in the top row, with Feferi sitting right below Jade and Aradia under Dave. Sollux usually sat in front of me, but sometimes he sat on the exact opposite of his usual seat - literally. If you took the classroom and folded it in half, the two different seats he sat in would be right on top of each other. Talk about symmetry.

When I got to the classroom, Jade was already in her seat, and Dave was nowhere to be found. I gave my sister a knowing look and she shot me a poisonous glare. "No one," she whispered threateningly.

I pretended to not notice her scathing stare as I looked at what was on the white board. We were working on our short stories again, which I had already finished the day before. This meant only one thing: time for a nap. Mrs. Anderson never cared when people slept in her class; after all, it was our choice whether we passed or failed.

"Night, Egbert," I heard Dave's suave voice before I was out cold.

"G'night...Dave..."

\-----

_A girl and a boy, both with short black hair, looked over a boy who could easily be mistaken as their sibling. "He...He's not dead, is he?" asked the girl. The boy took a step closer to the one laying on the ground and placed his ear on his chest._

_"Blimey..." the kneeling boy whispered quietly before laughing in disbelief. "I can't believe it...~ATHCPUOVERHEATING, unable to breath. The irony." He looked over at the girl with sad eyes, and it took all she had to not cry in front of him. "Are...Are the others gone, too?"_

_It took the girl a lot of effort to even nod as she looked at two other teenagers a few yards away. The boy had platinum blonde hair covered by a patched-up red and orange quilt, while the girl's darker blonde locks were soaking wet and hanging limply. "Yeah. ~ATHHARDWAREMALFUNCTION is gone, as is ~ATHMEMORYNOTFOUND. ~ATHUNABLETOLOCATERECORDS is really torn up about it, too, you know, how she never really got to know ~ATHMOTHERBOARDFAILURE." The dark-haired boy and girl fell into silence for a few minutes._

_Finally, the boy stood up and walked slowly, painfully over to the blonde boy. The blonde looked up at him for a second before standing up to envelop him in a hug. The black-haired girl sat down next to the blonde girl, and as the blonde placed her head in the other's lap, she whispered mindless nothings to her. Soon, the blonde was fast asleep, and the other stared out into the green lit distance._

_All they could do now was wait._

\-----

I awoke to the sound of the dismissal bell. "Are you okay?" Jade asked me as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. "You were saying some weird stuff in your sleep."

I looked at her oddly. "What was I saying?"

"How you wanted my babies," Dave said casually. I was shocked, even if it was a joke.

"Dave!"

"He was joking," Jade laughed. "Don't worry, I recorded it; something about witches and princes." She tossed me her phone, and I plugged my headphones in on the way to lunch.


	3. Tu Fui Ego Eris, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meaning of Chapter Title: I was You, You Will Be Me
> 
> In which a secret is uncovered, and John rises up.
> 
> So it's all new from here, so it'll take a whole lot longer to type up chapters than the past two (including this one, sorry!). I'm sorry if I end up not updating for two or three weeks at a time; TAKS (Texas mandatory testing stuff) is here, and AP testing and finals are coming up! 
> 
> If anybody was curious, I'm expecting about 25 chapters, but that'll probably change. Yeah. Definitely.
> 
> edit summary 4/25: I decided to cut the chapter short so I could at least give y'all something to read, but the next chapter will be up fairly soon, I hope, if things don't get too hectic in real life. Be prepared for the rising of the Heir of Breath!

Even when Dave was driving me home, my mind was preoccupied with the conversation I had with Jade in my sleep.

John: Witch...Witch, is that you?  
Jade: John, who are you talking about?  
John: Oh, it's you, Jade. I was just talking to the Witch and the Maid.  
Jade: Oh? How are they?  
John: The Witch is okay. She's on her way...it'll take another day or so.  
Jade: What about the Maid?  
John: You're so funny, Jade! Did you forget already? She's dead.  
Jade:...Oh.  
John: Yeah, but that's fine. She'll take a while longer, but soon, she'll join us. She'll be back, and so will Dave and Rose and you!  
Jade: Oh, and what about you, John?  
John: Geez, you really have forgotten everything. Don't worry, Jade...I've already risen.

"Yo, Egbert, snap out of it." I returned to reality when Dave called my name. "You're home." I looked out at the house I lived in with my adoptive parents. Unlike Jade, who was adopted by a nice couple named the Harleys, I was adopted by the Egberts, with whom I shared my last name. Rose and Dave were in the same situation, with the Lalondes and Striders, respectively. However, unlike Jade and I, Dave and Rose knew they were related even before they were adopted. My parents didn't tell me until I first invited her to my house and they freaked out, thinking that I had fallen in love with my sister. Fortunately, though, I only liked her as a friend, and our sibling bonds only became stronger after that.

"Thanks, Dave," I said to the red-clad boy, who drove off in his equally red Ford pick-up as soon as my feet touched concrete. Unfortunately, that was also the time at which Dieu, my mom's pet cat, came streaking out of the bushes right in front of me, and I fell back in shock. "Stupid cat!" I shouted at it as it disappeared into our neighbor's rosebush. Picking myself up, I thanked whoever existed that I had decided to switch to contacts last year. If not, then no doubt they would be somewhere in the middle of the street, and I didn't really want to end up suburban roadkill if my neighbor's daughter came barreling down the street in her BMW.

But now wasn't the time to think about unpleasant could-have-beens. As I entered the house, my eyes landed on the big blue box on the stairs. I could just imagine my foster mother wrapping it at the last second - as always - and sneaking off with a snicker. I had inherited my prankster's gambit from her, no doubt. That was why I was approaching the "gift" cautiously, slowly, with as much hesitation as possible without actually being considered a coward. Since Mom wasn't here, she probably had a video recorder set up somewhere nearby to capture the moment. She always had a way to keep me on my toes.

As soon as I reached the no-doubt-trap, I untied the bow on top before jumping back, just in case. Nothing happened, so I took the top off of the box and jumped back again. Nothing.

Okay, this was really weird. As I looked inside the gift box, I noticed that it was empty. Of course. But a flash of white and blue alerted me to a piece of paper taped to the bottom of the cover. I read it aloud, laughing as I realized that my birthday present was a scavenger hunt.

Dear John,

Right now, you're sixteen, but by tomorrow you'll be one year older.  
I'm so proud of you, and so is your father. We were planning on  
Giving you your present today, but sine we're out of town, you'll  
Have to wait until we get back. But if you're too impatient, take the  
Time to search for it yourself. ;)

Please don't stay up past midnight tonight. We know that you're  
About to take off and meet Dave for your "awesome party", but  
Try to keep your priorities in mind. But that's enough nagging.  
Honey, just remember that we love you, and have a happy birthday!

Love, Mom and Dad

"That was almost too easy," I thought out loud. They knew that I loved jogging down the bayou every day after school, and about the hidden shortcut that I take to get home. There was a fork in the road, and I always took the one on the left; apparently, Mom wanted me to go to the right this time. Why, I wasn't sure, but if it involved my birthday, it was either fun and exciting, or dangerous to my Prankster's Gambit.

And I was always one for danger.

But before I headed out, I decided to call Dave. He was holding an "ironic" sleepover for my birthday, mainly because I insisted so much that it overrode his badassery coolkid-ness. If I was going on this quest for my birthday gift, then I'd have to tell him that I might be late for my own party. Dialing his number with one hand and holding a fresh shirt from the dryer with the other, I managed to call Dave without messing up too bad. He said he understood, yada yada, and I hung up.

Now to do whatever the hell I was going to do.

~~~~~

Five minutes later found me on the path down the bayou, saying hello to any familiar faces that I may see. Right before the entrance to the path I was about to take, I spotted Karkat jogging down the other side of the bayou. "Hi, Karkat!" I shouted to him and waved. He glared at me for a few seconds before shouting back.

"Whatever, fuckass!" I rolled my eyes and grinned at his grouchy behavior - typical for the dark-haired teen. Even though, he was still considered a good friend of mine, even if only in my point of view.

Thanks to the transaction between us, I almost missed my turn, but noticed it before missing it completely and headed down the path. A few yards down brought me to the intersection, and I took the right path as was instructed.

When I finally reached what seemed to be my destination, I was sorely disappointed. It was nothing but a large clearing, and it didn't look like there was another note or clue for me here.I turned around to head back home and get ready for Dave's party, but was pushed back into the clearing by a strong breeze. It was too strong to fight, and I was slowly pushed backwards until my back hit something solid.

The wind died down as I turned around. What met my eyes scared me more than surprised me, and I felt a pang of guilt as I looked up at the seemingly endless tower of white. It looked like hundreds upon hundreds of cookie cutter white suburban houses stacked on each other, and I could see a glint of blue on a lower balcony. _That must be my girft,_ I decided, ignoring the common sense that said _there is no way something like this appeared out of nowhere without you noticing, turn back now!_

I walked through the front door and saw that everything was in disarray. An urn was broken on the floor in front of the fireplace; a bathtub was in the middle of the living room; an odd smell reminiscent of burnt cake wafted from the kitchen. Fortunately, the stairs were still intact, and I walked up to what looked like a teenage boy's bedroom. Whoever used to occupy the room had the same interests as me: Nicholas Cage, pranks, magic. There was a door that led out to the balcony, and I ignored the blue marker all over it in favor of just throwing it open and finding what had piqued my interest earlier.

I was both disappointed and awed by the perfectly blue tree that, although it looked like it was sculpted from gelatin, grew from a platform on the balcony. I circled it slowly and noticed something shiny hanging from a branch on the other side. "What's that...?"

It was a medallion with an odd Spirograph design on both sides. I felt drawn to it for some reason, but refrained from touching it. "What are you?" I talked to the inanimate necklace. "Where are you-"

I was cut off as a freezing, burning sensation traveled up my arm. I yanked my hand back from the medallion, not realizing that I had reached out for it in the first place. The pain didn't go away, and I squeezed my eyes tight as it seemed to travel up to my brain. The pain transformed into shouts, which turned into comprehensible words, and I struggled to find my own thoughts in the jumbled mess.

_"Are you ready to play, guys?"  
"Dave? What's wrong? ...Dave, why aren't you answering?"  
"Rose! It doesn't have to be like this! Stop it!"  
"It's our fault, so we have to stop it ourselves. It's only fair."  
"We're never giving up, Jack! Never!"  
"Prepare to scratch!"_

"NO!" I heard a high-pitched scream, and it took me a few painful seconds to realize that the voice was my own. My voice died down, and I slowly opened my eyes just to see the medallion hanging around my neck. The one place I didn't want it. I struggled to take it off, but something was stopping me.

And then I felt the cold hand on my shoulder.

"Hello, John."


	4. Tu Fui Ego Eris, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Same title and chapter summary.
> 
> I'm not even going to try making a schedule, I know I'm going to fail anyways. I'm so sorry again for the late (like, over half of a year late) update. No excuses. None. Let's hope the next chapter is out in, say, five months. That'll be amazing.

I spun around to see who was behind me. The person laughed loudly at my reaction. "You should have seen the look on your face!" he giggled. "You were all like 'holy shit there's a serial rapist right behind me I'm going to die'!" He stopped laughing as he realized that I was still in shock. "Um...hello? Are you okay? Earth to John!"

Everything he said was lost to me as I stared at the boy. He was me. As in, he looked exactly like me. Exactly. What was going on? "Who are you?" I finally asked, and his eyes lit up in realization.

"So you don't remember anything at all?" he asked. "Even after you activated the Spirograph? Huh. My bad." He giggled some more. "Sorry for freaking you out like that. My name's John Egbert! Nice to meet you, my other self!"

I flinched as he leaned in closer, scared of the mysterious boy claiming to be me. "S-Stay away from me," I said, getting into a defensive stance. "And don't say that! Who are you, really?" The boy made a face of disgust before reaching at me. I flinched again, unsure if he was friendly or not. He smiled gently at me, and I warily let my guard down so he could grasp the Spirograph around my neck.

"Do you see this?" he asked, and I nodded. "This is what connects us." He smiled almost wistfully at it before looking back up at me. "You don't understand right now, but you will. Soon. You, me, we're the Heir of Breath." He chuckled softly, and I could tell that the boy - me? - was getting more distant the longer we spoke. "It's odd, that I'm stuck in the Spirograph when you so clearly survived the Scratch. But you wouldn't understand that either. Huh, I wonder if the others are..." He was silent for a few minutes before finally letting go of the Spirograph around my neck. He held out his other hand to me, and a bright rectangle appeared in it. As the light dissipated from the thing in his palm, I noticed that it was a white card with green edging, and a picture of what appeared to be a rainbow hammer in the center. It was familiar, but I had no clue why. Where had I seen it before...? "Let me try something here. Do you remember this? It's called-"

"Zillyhoo." We were both surprised that I answered, me probably more so. "It's the Warhammer of Zillyhoo." There was more that I remembered. It was vague, but it was there. "Th-there was a rabbit, and...they were small. But they grew." Even more memories cam flooding in. "And...and the ship! And-...there was somebody, somebody on the ship. No, two somebodies. And other somebodies were waiting for us?" For some reason, I was...was I sad? Why was I sad?

The other me - Was he, really? - wiped a tear from my cheek, and only then did I realize I was crying. "Sh," he murmured, trying to comfort me as he placed one hand on my cheek, the hand that had been holding my Spirograph. "It'll be okay. Those people, they're waiting for you, okay?" I looked up at him in surprise. "All you have to do is accept that you're the Heir of Breath, and all the pieces will fall into place." He chuckled, as if remembering a joke only he was privy to. "They always do." I looked down at the card in his hand, and the Spirograph around my neck. Was it all real? The memories I had told me yes, but my mind was clearly shouting no. This, whatever this was, wasn't rational. It didn't make sense.

I took another look at the boy, the ghostly trickster staring into the face so familiar to his own, and nodded, placing my hand over the card in his own. He grinned widely as I returned it with a more solemn smile, and leaned forward, whispering words into my ear. I repeated them as he spoke them once more.

"For Skaia's last breath, I reclaim my title as the Heir of Breath." I watched as the other me disappeared, and around me, the wind suddenly blowing in the room turned into several different hues of blue and white. I watched as the air formed a funnel around me, flinching as the whisps of wind wrapped around my body. I relaxed, however, when I realized that the air wasn't cold, but warm and comforting. As the wind formed into some type of soft cloth, I turned to go back inside and find a mirror. Did I look the same, or was I...different? I saw that there was a bathroom down the hall, and raced towards it, but ended up tripping on something under my feet. As I fell forward, I flinched and closed my eyes as I held out my hands, landing on the floor with a thud.

However, when I opened my eyes, I realized that I wasn't actually on the carpet; I was floating several inches above it. I moved my legs experimentally, and found that whatever I landed on was invisible and solid. I stood up on it, realizing that whatever this 'title' was, it had to do with wind - and I was currently standing on solidified air. I hopped slightly, and the platform under my feet remained steady. However, as I focused more on the air, I felt it morphing under me. Not just under me, all around me. Now, as I tucked myself into a loose ball, it felt as though I was floating in water. Breathable water. I took a few breaststroke pulls, and the air was pulled around me, propelling me forward. I giggled happily at my newfound powers, distracted from the overall confusion for a second by a sense of accomplishment.

As I floated in the air, I curled up into another ball, but this time solidified the air behind my feet and kicked out, sending me forward and delivering me into the bathroom, as though I had kicked off a wall. I skidded to a stop in front of the large mirror to take a better look at myself. I _did_ look like the younger version of myself that I had been talking to earlier. I was wearing a strange blue outfit with a long hood - was it a windsock, or what? - and yellow slippers. It was comfortable and nearly weightless on my younger, thinner body. "Oh, cool," I said breathlessly - I swear I'll stop with the puns someday - and spun, the tail of the hood whipping around me like a ballet dancer's ribbons. "I think I made the right decision."

That was when I felt the ground shake under me, and I let myself levitate in the air to keep my balance.  Floating back to the balcony, I saw my other self had reappeared, and was looking down at the ground. "Ah, shit," he muttered. "Well, looks like you're in for a bit of training." I followed his gaze, and saw a mob of black creatures - they registered in my mind as  _imps_ \- surrounding the house. "Good luck, John! Au revoir!" And with that, my other self vanished, leaving me alone to fend for myself.

"Thanks!" I shouted, before looking down at the imps and the card that I had forgotten was in my hand. I was completely lost. What was I supposed to do? How did I-

_Use it, John. Use Zillyhoo._

I felt a comforting presence in my mind, and calmed down slightly. Not judging this new presence - I had learned over the course of the past few minutes to not question things - I held out the card containing the Warhammer of Zillyhoo in front of me and flicked it into the air. "Eject!" I shouted upon the voice's command, "Warhammer of Zillyhoo!"

Almost immediately, the card dissolved into white sparks and reformed as the rainbow hammer itself, falling into my hand, light as a feather. I smirked and looked back down at the mob, which were halfway up the sides of the house and had just managed to knock down the door. I propelled myself into the air and started my reign of terror on the little pests, using a combination of strikes from Zillyhoo and gusts of sharp air to obliterate the things.

I panted and landed on the grass after the ordeal, feeling accomplished that I had just destroyed a shitload of monsters. As I looked up at my protected home, though, I was overcome by a different feeling. Nostalgia, now that I had some kind of spirit reminding me of what I was.  Of what I had returned to being. I gripped the medallion around my neck in remembrance and smiled softly.

It was weird accepting that I was somebody I wasn't, it was true, but I guess it was also reassuring. And somehow, I knew that the others wouldn't be too far behind. "Return me to my human guise," I muttered instinctually, and the medallion in my grasp shone brightly before I was engulfed in the light, and it returned me to my original form. In front of me, the tall house - my old home - shimmered into nothingness, and I collapsed to the ground, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep on the carpet-like grass. I think I was going to do that.

As my eyes fluttered shut, I felt an invisible wind ruffle my hair and cover me in warmth, its deep whispers lulling me to sleep.

_"Happy birthday, my son."_


End file.
